SkimLinks Is a No-Brainer Affiliate Marketing Solution

One of the more frustrating parts of doing affiliate marketing is signing up for the various affiliate programs and affiliate networks, waiting for approval, etc… Programs come and go, terms change, networks close. It can honestly be a pain in the butt to manage all that information. And if they change their link structure – ugh, we won’t even have that conversation today.

I know I’m a little late getting on the bandwagon here. I had heard about Skimlinks in multiple places and avoided it because I was trying to be focused and didn’t want to go off to learn new things at the moment. What I didn’t realize was that it really is a no-brainer affiliate marketing solution. Seriously – it’s an easy button! Let me explain what I mean…

First and possibly most notable in the current affiliate marketing environment there is a chance that you’ve been removed from or not accepted with certain affiliate programs or locations because of your physical location. If you’ve had that problem recently, Skimlinks could be the solution you’re looking for. You don’t need an affiliate ID – you’re using their affiliate ID and they’re sharing their commissions with you. Location problem solved.

Maybe you’re in a similar situation to myself where you run a niche specific site (in my case, cross stitch) and you would rather focus on writing the content and sharing good interesting stuff with your readers than hunting down affiliate programs, applying to them, and waiting,… and then adding links, so on and so forth. Skimlinks is a great solution here because if you enable their SkimWords feature they will automatically identify key phrases in your content and turn them into affiliate links for you. Like I said, easy button! All you have to do is write.

Perhaps there is a product you recommend frequently, but you’re not part of that company’s affiliate program for some reason or another. It may be that the affiliate program is notoriously difficult to get accepted to or it may be that because you only recommend the one single product in their line it doesn’t really make sense for them to have you as an affiliate, it might not be a good match with your overall website. Use a Skimlink on your recommendation of that item instead. You don’t have to manage another affiliate relationship and you can earn commissions on your honest recommendation. Easy peasy.

Advantages of Using Skimlinks Over Your Own Affiliate IDs

One big advantage with the SkimWords feature of Skimlinks is that if you happen to be forgetful by nature, like I often am, it’s okay. The SkimWords links appear automatically within your content. So you won’t have a pile of missed opportunities sitting within the content on your website and it might find opportunities you didn’t even think about looking for. That’s a great benefit, in my opinion.

Some of the programs in the Skimlinks database you might already be an affiliate for, like Amazon. You can use your straight Amazon link as usual or you can have Skimlinks overwrite them for. Skimlinks pays out monthly via Paypal and you might get a higher percentage of commission because of their sales volume.

The same goes for other programs, in many cases companies offer an incentive based commission structure – the more you sale the higher your commission rate. Because Skimlinks is all under one ID their volume earns them this higher percentage and they pass that onto you. More dollars in your Paypal account – easy.

And that is the other advantage. Skimlinks pays out monthly via Paypal with a low minimum of $25. No waiting around to reach $100 or higher commission levels and no waiting for multiple affiliate checks to arrive. It all comes in one monthly payment and you can quickly see how your profits are looking each month. Again, easy is the key here.

Loretta Oliver, married to the comic book geek of her dreams and mother of four amazing young men, has been working from home full time since 2001. With a busy transcription service business, a few niche sites, and a handful of other internet marketing projects on the go, the computer is always fired up and the ideas are always flowing.

Comments

Thank you so much Retta for sharing more about Skimlinks. I have been trying to find alternative affiliate networks for a few weeks now. I looked a Skimlinks only briefly last weekend but never went back to check them out fully. You have gotten my attention — especially with the Skimword tool. Sounds like it make it super easy to use their network.

Very cool! I’ve been a CB affiliate and ShareASale for a while not and the wait to get approved does get a little tedious. The low threshold payout is a nice incentive as well. From a developers standpoint I’m with you in regards to anything that can make our lives easier while still being useful.

Trackbacks

[…] It’s preloaded to be monetized with Google Adsense, Amazon, and Clickbank links. As a side note, if you’re having trouble getting into the Amazon affiliate program you may want to check out Skimlinks. […]